Wayne Rooney has revealed that he wants Marcus Rashford to remain a Manchester United player and for him to become the club's top scorer in history.
The plea from Rashford comes just days after Mirror Football revealed that Arsenal are plotting a move for the wantaway forward. The Gunners must sign a striker in the summer and feel they could tempt the England international to the Emirates Stadium in a cut-price deal.
It has been reported that Rashford is weighing up his options heading into the latter stages of the season, growing unhappy with his lack of minutes under Ralf Rangnick at United. But the 24-year-old has been told to remain at Old Trafford by Red Devils hero Wayne Rooney.
According to The Sun, Rooney spoke of Rashford at a black-tie event on Saturday night, saying: “To get the record and be Manchester United’s highest goal scorer, it is f***ing massive. But I hope the record is broken.
“What I hope is that Marcus Rashford f***ing gets his head out of his a**e and goes and breaks that record. He’s a Manchester lad.” The strong claims for Rashford to re-evaluate his situation will certainly be heard by the forward, though whether it is enough for him to continue at United remains to be seen.
The academy product has scored four and assisted two for United in 19 Premier League appearances this season, but many feel his performances haven’t been up to scratch and the winger has lost the ‘spark’ that made him one of England’s most exciting young prospects previously. But Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta will be hoping he can get Rashford’s career back on track if he is able to sign the forward by integrating him into a team of young players all equally committed to his project.
But Tony Cascarino has called for the Gunners to reconsider pursuing the wantaway star as he feels that Rashford isn’t the out and out striker that the club need. Speaking on talkSPORT, Cascarino explained: “To be a natural striker, and this is something I learned along the way and I got better at as I got older, so Marcus could become better because there’s no reason why someone can’t improve, you have to be very, very clinical.
“You have to punish because, if you’re going to a club like Arsenal, they’re looking to progress and be a Champions League team, so you have to be clinical in front of goal.” Arsenal let Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang leave for Barcelona in January, and with Eddie Nketiah and Alexandre Lacazette out of contract at the end of the season, Arteta will be eying up more than one forward in the summer.
Former Chelsea striker Cascarino continued: “I joked and sometimes called [Alexandre] Lacazette ‘Lack a finish’, which is a bit harsh because I think he’s a decent player, but he’s not been clinical enough for Arsenal. They’ve needed that, for him to be punishing teams, and I don’t think Marcus is ready to do that at Arsenal.”
